She's Just A Friend
by JennaTalbot
Summary: Five times Adrien called Marinette 'just a friend' and one time he didn't


**1\. Nino**

"Nino, this sounds awesome!" Adrien took off Nino's trademark headphones that he had been wearing and handed them back.

There was an event after school that night that Nino had been asked to DJ for, and he had spent the better part of three weeks working on his mixes. He had finally let Adrien listen to them, since he had been worried about sharing them before he thought they were done. Nino was surprisingly secretive about his work while it was in progress, similar to Marinette when she was working on something, but completely opposite of Alya, who wanted input each and every step of the way.

"Thanks," he grinned, pleased at the compliment. "You think everyone will like it?"

"It's going to be all anyone talks about!" Adrien bumped Nino's shoulder and the boy's grin got wider.

After a moment he turned his brown eyes to Adrien and his grin faltered. "You're gonna be there, right? You said you would last week…"

Adrien quickly went over his schedule in his mind. He knew he had promised Nino, but in all honesty, he had forgotten that it was tonight. But he couldn't think of anything that had come up since then, and he smiled in relief. "Absolutely! I wouldn't miss it," he assured his best friend.

Nino looked relieved as well. "Hey dude, you should ask Marinette to come!"

"Didn't you ask her already?" Adrien asked, surprised. Nino had asked him weeks ago, he assumed that he had asked Marinette and Alya already as well.

"Well yeah, but like… you should ask her to go. With you," Nino wagged an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, I mean, I can ask her and make sure she's still coming…"

Nino groaned. "Dude."

Adrien blinked, confused. "Ok, I think I'm missing something here."

The other boy heaved a long, heavy sigh. "Adrien. Dude. Ask Marinette to come to this thing. Not in general. But with you."

"Like… a date?" Adrien asked.

Nino rolled his eyes, but grinned. "Yes!"

"Marinette? But she's just a friend."

"...please tell me you're joking." Nino did not look amused and Adrien wasn't sure why.

"No? Nino, Marinette and I are just friends. She doesn't like me that way. I think I make her uncomfortable when it's just the two of us."

Nino started to respond, but Adrien's phone chose that moment to ring.

"Ah sorry, it's Nathalie, I have to take this," he apologized as he walked away, putting the phone up to his ear.

Nino started after him for a moment before groaning, dropping his head onto the desk in front of him. How could his best friend be so clueless? Alya had been right, this situation was looking hopeless.

 **2\. Chloe**

"Adrikins!"

Adrien sighed internally, but smiled as he turned to face the blonde girl practically bouncing up to him. "Hey Chlo," he gave her a halfhearted wave.

"Adrikins, there you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Adrien chuckled. "Chloe, I've been here for at least the last hour," he pointed out. And it wasn't like he was difficult to find, being in class.

"That's not the point," Chloe pouted. "But you're here now and _I'm_ here to tell you that you're coming to see _Hamilton_ with me tonight!" She pulled out two tickets with a flourish.

"I didn't know you were into musical theater," Adrien said, surprised.

"Oh I'm not," she rolled her eyes. "But tickets are nearly impossible to get, and everyone who's anyone is going to see it! Daddy was able to pull some strings and get these tickets, and you're going to come with me! It'll be perfect Adrikins!"

Adrien didn't particularly want to go with Chloe, but he couldn't deny that he had been wanting to see the musical. Then a thought struck him.

"I'm really sorry Chloe, but I can't go tonight. I already have plans with Marinette. Maybe you could get the tickets for a different day?" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He felt bad turning Chloe down, but he had been looking forward to playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III with Marinette practically all week, and it didn't seem fair to cancel on such short notice.

Adrien had lost track of the times he had had to cancel on Marinette because his father sprung some last minute thing on him. And Marinette had never complained, and never made him feel guilty about it. She took it all in stride. But he knew what it was like to have something you were looking forward to taken away from you, and he absolutely hated being the one to do that to Marinette.

Chloe gave him an icy look, complete with her trademark pout. "But Adrikins! This show has been sold out for _months_! You can't just 'get other tickets'!"

"Well… your dad was able to get those, maybe he could get another set. Or find someone to trade with?" Adrien suggested with a shrug.

Chloe's face hardened. "It's either now or not at all Adrien."

He sighed. "I'm really sorry then Chloe, but it wouldn't be fair of me to cancel on Marinette like that, we've had these plans for a while."

"What do you see in her anyways?" Chloe snapped.

That made Adrien mad. He knew Chloe and Marinette didn't get along, but he didn't know the details. Some bad blood from before he started school with them. But the amount of hatred the two seemed to have for one another made him uncomfortable, especially since he was friends with both of them.

"Marinette is a really great friend Chloe! And I really think you two could get along if you gave her a chance," he frowned.

Adrien wasn't sure what he said that made Chloe's eyes light up that way, and a small smirk slowly formed on her face.

"Whatever, Adrikins. I'm going home to plan my outfit now. Have fun hanging out with your loser _friend_ ," she gave him a victorious grin and flounced away.

Adrien wasn't sure what just happened, but he was reasonably sure it wasn't a good thing.

 **3\. Master Fu**

"Yo Adrien, catch!" Nino flung the frisbee across the park, and Adrien raced to catch it. He was so close… but his fingers grasped at thin air and he looked up to see Marinette in front of him, purple frisbee clutched triumphantly in her hand.

"Better luck next time," she smirked as Alya ran up and high fived her.

Adrien congratulated the girls goodnaturedly, and snagged a seat on one of the benches. He was panting lightly, but it felt nice to be out and enjoying the sunny day with his friends. He loved coming to this park, but he rarely got the chance to just enjoy it as Adrien. He was here frequently, either because his father thought it made a good backdrop for many of his photoshoots, or as Chat Noir, trying to stop an akuma from wreaking havoc on the general public that gathered here. And neither of those were great ways to enjoy the public space.

The frisbee game was something Nino and Marinette had come up with, and Alya took to it immediately. Her competitive spirit meant that the girls often won, but neither Nino nor Adrien had any problems with that.

Adrien just enjoyed the time with his friends, and he knew Nino loved seeing Alya happy.

"Here Adrien, these are for you!" Marinette was in front of him, and handed him a small pink box.

Adrien opened the box to see it full of his favorite macarons from her parent's bakery. "Wow Marinette, thank you! You didn't have to do that!"

"It was no trouble at all," she smiled at him. "Alya and I have to go now, do you want to walk home with us?"

Adrien made a face. "I would love to, but the Gorilla is coming to pick me up in a few. I've got a fitting tonight for my father's new clothing line."

Marinette nodded. "Ok, well we'll see you at school tomorrow!"

Adrien waved as the two girls set out from the park. Nino dropped down on the bench next to him.

"I hate to leave you here all alone dude, but I've gotta run too," he smiled apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, I'll see you at school tomorrow," Adrien assured him.

He watched his best friend leave the park as well, and closed his eyes against the warm sun. It wasn't long before he felt a presence beside him, and he opened his eyes.

There was a small Asian man sitting on the bench next to him, wearing a bright red Hawaiian shirt and leaning heavily on the cane in front of him. Adrien got the feeling he knew this man, but couldn't put his finger on why.

"It's a lovely day, isn't it?" The man asked suddenly.

Adrien hummed in agreement. "It really is." He looked down at the box in front of him and opened it, pulling out two of the pastries. "Would you like a macaron?" He asked the man politely.

With a smile, the old man took the offered pastry and bit into it, sighing in delight.

"They're from my friend Marinette's bakery. Her parents make the most delicious things," Adrien explained.

The man's eyes twinkled. "She must be some friend then," he commented.

"Yeah, Marinette is a really great friend," Adrien agreed happily.

The old man let out a chuckle and stood. "One of these days, you might realize that Miss Marinette can offer you more than friendship," he winked, and walked away.

 _What was that supposed to mean?_

Adrien sat, staring at the back of the old man who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and left just as quickly.

 **4\. Alya**

Right after school, Alya cornered him. She grabbed his arm and yanked him off to the side, next to the staircase, where they were partially hidden in the shadows.

"Uh hey Alya, what's going on?" Adrien asked, confused. "Where's Marinette?" Usually if Alya was around, Marinette was around as well.

She shushed him before continuing. "We need to talk."

And whatever it was, Alya wasn't happy about it. Her face was creased into a frown and her hazel eyes were stormy.

"Is everything ok?" Her voice was low, but Adrien could still sense the urgency there. He had heard it before, it was a tone that Ladybug used frequently when she needed him to pay attention during an akuma attack. That alone set his nerves on edge.

"Look. Marinette would probably kill me if she knew I was here right now, and I'm not trying to put you on the spot, but I need to know if I should keep supporting her in this or not. Do you like her, at all?"

"Well yeah, of course I do," he answered her.

Adrien didn't know why Alya was asking him this. Had he said something mean to her on accident? Did Marinette think they weren't friends anymore? Had he cancelled on her one too many times? She never seemed to mind, but he knew it must be hard...

His mind started racing backwards over the past few months. He thought they had been making progress. Adrien had been spending more time with Marinette lately, and she appeared more confident and willing to talk to him now then she had before. He had been surprised how much they had in common, and once they started talking it was sometimes difficult to stop.

"As a friend?" It didn't sound like a question. It sounded like a challenge.

"Yeah, Marinette is great, I wouldn't want to do anything to lose her as a friend," he answered, not sure what Alya was getting at here. But at the way her eyes narrowed, he didn't think that was the answer she was looking for.

Suddenly Alya froze, her eyes darting to a spot behind Adrien's shoulder.

Adrien turned to see Marinette standing behind him, blue eyes wide open in shock.

"Hey Marin-" he started, but suddenly she turned and ran. Adrien thought he saw the start of tears in her eyes, and something uncomfortable that he couldn't name settled in his stomach.

"Oh no," Alya sighed, as she took off after the girl before Adrien could ask what was going on.

He was left standing next to the stairs, alone, confused, and with an unsettled feeling in his stomach.

 **5\. Plagg**

Adrien climbed through his window and closed it before letting his transformation drop. He fished a piece of camembert out of his desk drawer and handed it to the expectant kwami before flopping down onto his bed, arms spread out haphazardly.

The akuma he had just fought with Ladybug had been exhausting, and it had taken the better part of the afternoon. But there was something else weighing on his mind.

After a few minutes, he sighed heavily. When there was no response, he sighed again.

"Ugh fine, I'll bite. What's eating you, kid?" Plagg floated over to land on Adrien's chest, having already finished his cheese.

"I don't know," Adrien answered.

Plagg snorted. "Ok well, until you figure that out I'm going to-"

"Wait!" Adrien reached out and grabbed Plagg, holding him in place gently.

Plagg rolled his eyes, but waited for Adrien to continue.

"I can't stop thinking about Marinette, and what happened yesterday with Alya. Why was she crying?"

"Kid, I'm not a therapist."

"Plagg!" Adrien looked at his kwami pleadingly.

Plagg sighed and settled more comfortably on his chosen's chest. "Alright, what's on your mind?"

Adrien thought about that. "I don't know what I did to make her so upset, things have been going really well between us lately. I used to think she didn't like me very much, she always avoided hanging out with me, never really answered my questions, and she would always stutter. I think I make her nervous…" He paused. "I hope she doesn't still hate me from that stupid gum incident with Chloe. I explained the situation to her, and I thought she understood me, but maybe she didn't?"

Plagg raised his eyebrows and said nothing.

"But lately, we've been actually acting like friends. And it's really nice, Marinette is really nice."

At that, Plagg snorted and rose off of Adrien's chest. "Kid, I don't think I'm the kwami for this job."

"Plagg!" Adrien sat up.

"Honestly, are all humans this dense? What did you say to Alya before you knew Marinette was there?" Plagg floated in the air, looking bored, but also slightly frustrated.

"I told her that I didn't want to lose Marinette as a friend," Adrien frowned, remembering the conversation.

Plagg sighed, dredging up every ounce of patience in his little body. Relationship advice, or advice in general, was so outside of his realm. But he was sick of feeling like he needed to hit his head against a wall. Repeatedly.

"Marinette is a really cool friend! It's clear that she has a huge crush on me, but I totally like her! As. A. Friend." He mimicked, emphasizing the last three words.

"Plagg that's not- Wait, did you say-"

 _Oh._

 _Oh no._

Realization hit Adrien and he sunk back down onto his bed. Plagg grinned and floated onto of Adrien's dresser. That was enough feelings for one day, he needed a nap. Adrien would either figure this out or he wouldn't, but Plagg had done his part.

Sprawled out on the bed again, Adrien closed his eyes and groaned. Marinette had feelings for him. Feelings of more than just friendship. And he had accidentally been telling her and everyone else over and over that he wasn't interested in her.

But was he interested? He thought about that.

Marinette was a really great friend, and he was lucky to know her, he was sure about that much. She was smart, and kind, and funny. She was surprisingly good in a crisis, and was insanely good at improvising solutions to any problem that was thrown her way. But thinking of those qualities just brought him back to the other lady in his life.

Now that he was thinking about it, Marinette did share a lot of the same characteristics he admired in Ladybug. But Ladybug didn't seem to want to give him the time of day. Marinette was already interested in him, and for more than his model status like he suspected Chloe was.

But he couldn't date Marinette just because she was willing to while Ladybug wasn't. Adrien felt sick at the thought. Marinette didn't deserve to be someone's second choice.

If he was going to change anything about his relationship with Marinette, he was going to have to spend some serious time untangling his thoughts.

He groaned again, and heard Plagg cackle from the dresser. He threw a pillow in that general direction, managing a grin at the indignant "Hey!" that was thrown his way.

 **+1 Marinette**

"Marinette! Marinette, someone is here to see you!"

Marinette groaned as her mother's voice drifted up the stairs from the bakery. "Maman, I'm busy!" She was not in the mood to see anyone, and hadn't been for the past few days.

She had just started a new design for an evening gown, and wanted to get the idea out of her head and down onto the paper as quickly as she could, before she started to lose sight of the details. Once the initial design was down, she could more easily alter the things that didn't quite fit.

The gown was an elegant black dress, long and flowing, with full length sleeves and a plunging back. It was far plainer than anything Marinette usually designed, but it felt right somehow.

Designing was a good way to pass the time, and to keep her mind off of what she had overheard at school last week. The sketchbook she had just bought was almost full now. Idly, she planned when she could go out to get another.

"Marinette, it's not polite to keep people waiting!"

She could hear the note of finality in her mother's voice, and sighed. "Tell them they can come up here!" She called back, turning back to her half finished design.

Her room was a bit of a mess, she hadn't felt up to cleaning it. But there was nothing that would be too embarrassing for someone to see. And if it was someone her parents wouldn't want in their daughter's room, she knew her mother would insist that Marinette come down to greet them. She heard footsteps on the stairs and turned, freezing when she saw who was standing at the top of the staircase. Her heart leapt into her throat and stuck there.

"A-adrien?"

"Uh, hey Marinette," he smiled, looking nervous.

Marinette gulped. She hadn't been ignoring Adrien, she had not. If their schedules suddenly didn't seem to match up, well, that wasn't her fault. She had been busy with classwork, and extra patrols as Ladybug. Definitely not avoiding Adrien.

But now he was _here_ in her _room_ and there would be no easy way to get rid of him. Maybe she could tell him she was sick.

Marinette knew she was being silly, and she should be happy that Adrien even wanted to be her friend. Ignoring him was risking losing that, but she couldn't help the little stab of pain every time she remembered him telling Alya she was just a friend. Every time she thought about it, she felt the edges of her world crumble a little more.

"I tried calling you a couple times," he started. "You didn't answer."

It didn't sound like an accusation, but an explanation.

"Uh yeah, haha, I've just been really busy, with class and…" She gestured to her sketchbook.

"Oh, are you working on a new design?"

"Yeah I started a few new ones, I guess inspiration just hit me and I've been losing track of time working on them," she answered. It was partially the truth anyways.

"That's cool Marinette! Can I see?" He looked at her eagerly with those large green eyes.

Marinette had shown him her sketches a few times before, and she loved how excited he got. His eyes always lit up, and he got a little furrow between his eyebrows as he analyzed her drawings, soaking in every detail. He was always able to offer advice on things to add or change, and had helped her get over creative blocks more than once. Adrien pushed a lot of her designs over the line from 'great' to 'excellent' and Marinette was thankful for that.

But, her sketches were a part of who she was. And right now, she wasn't sure if she wanted to share that part of herself with him. She bit her lip, and looked at him again. He was still looking at her, and she could see the question there in his eyes.

Marinette didn't think she could refuse him anything, not really. She didn't want to. So she handed her sketchbook over with a slight nod.

"The page it's on now is the one I'm working on, but it's nowhere near done."

Adrien looked at it carefully. "Marinette, this is gorgeous."

She blushed, trying not to stutter. "Thank you," she managed to mumble. His praise never failed to warm her insides, although there was a slight edge of sharpness that came with it now.

He thumbed backwards through the pages, silently. Marinette shifted in her seat, silently begging him to say something.

"I don't think I've seen any of these before, but they're all amazing," he said as he turned his gaze back to her. 'You're amazing, Marinette."

Normally, a compliment like that from Adrien would have made her heart flutter and her mind race. But now, she just felt like a black hole was opening up inside of her. She tried her best to smile, knowing that would be the appropriate response.

Before she could open her mouth to respond, he continued. The nervous look he had before was back, and he thumbed the edge of her sketchbook.

"Marinette... You're my friend. Probably my best friend."

And here it was. This thing between them that Marinette had been hoping to avoid, possibly forever. She had been crushing on Adrien for so long now, most people probably would have given up. But there was always that glimmer of hope, when he would laugh at one of her jokes, or she would catch him looking her way in class.

Then they started spending time together, and really hanging out, just the two of them. It started simple, working on homework assignments after class together. But it had evolved into more than that, and Marinette knew she had gotten her hopes up despite her best efforts not to. Maybe she really had imagined the way he seemed to light up when he saw her, or the way that he paid extra attention to her when they hung out as a group with Nino and Alya.

Now she was going to have to hear him say out loud, to her face, that he would never see her as more than a friend. Marinette wasn't prepared for that level of rejection, even though she had known this was coming. She sighed, closing her eyes.

"But… I️ would like it if you were more than that."

Her eyes flew open. "Wh-what?"

Now it was Adrien's turn to shift uncomfortably.

"It's just, we've been hanging out so much lately and I… I'm sorry it took me so long Marinette. But with some, ah, help… I finally realized that I really do like you Marinette. As a friend but, as more than a friend too."

Marinette was pretty sure that her jaw literally hit the floor. "Adrien… what are you saying?"

She knew she heard the words, but her mind was having a really difficult time comprehending this situation. Maybe she should have gotten more sleep last night.

"Marinette… do you want to go see a movie tomorrow night? Ah… like a date?"

Language seemed to have abandoned her at that moment, so Marinette just nodded furiously.

Adrien laughed. "Ok, cool. Um… we can go after school? To see a movie, and then maybe somewhere to eat after?"

Finally, Marinette found her voice. "You sound wonderful- I mean THAT! That sounds wonderful… yes."

Adrien paused for a moment before darting forward to give her an awkward hug. "I'll see you tomorrow then!" He called as he practically flew down her staircase.

Marinette stood frozen in place, eyes comically wide. It took a few minutes of Tikki waving her tiny hand in front of Marinette's face for the girl to respond.

"Tikki, please tell me that actually just happened?" Marinette finally asked faintly.

Tikki giggled in excitement, fluttering around. "Marinette! You have a date tomorrow! With your longtime crush, and one of your best friends!"

Marinette thought about that. Maybe being friends with Adrien Agreste hadn't been such a bad thing after all.

* * *

 **AN:** **Honestly someone needs to help this clueless cinnamon roll**

 **Let me know if you enjoyed this? It's my first time writing a 5+1 fic, but I think it turned out alright**


End file.
